Marcellus Drilling News

Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP Changing, Resubmitting Onerous VOC/Methane Regulations
May 19, 2022May 27, 2022

In March the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board (EQB), a sub-agency of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), approved a final version of onerous new regulations that supposedly will capture every last molecule of stray methane that leaks from shale and conventional drilling operations (see PA EQB Approves Final Onerous Methane Regs Harming Conv Drillers). These regs have been developed and tweaked since 2016. In late April several oil and gas associations that represent conventional drillers sued to block the new regs. Subsequently, the DEP withdrew the proposed new regs saying it would rework them. The DEP is about to resubmit a tweaked version of the regs for consideration, hoping to diffuse opposition from conventional drillers. Will it work?
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Antis Lie About Safety of LNG-by-Rail, Seek Permanent Ban for PA
May 19, 2022May 27, 2022

Irrational anti-fossil fuelers, including THE Delaware Riverkeeper and the League of [Liberal Democrat] Women Voters, have set their sites on assassinating LNG-by-rail shipments in Pennsylvania and beyond. If even one shipment of LNG using rail cars should happen, it would expose the lie that LNG-by-rail is a “rolling bomb.” Antis, poisoned with hatred against fossil energy, are making fantastical and 100% false claims about LNG by rail. Substances FAR more flammable and combustible than liquified natural gas, including crude oil, roll down the rail tracks each and every day through major population centers across the country. That fact doesn’t seem to bother antis.
Read More “Antis Lie About Safety of LNG-by-Rail, Seek Permanent Ban for PA”
Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Supply Chain

Flaring Tech Co. with Ops in M-U Expands Manuf. Facility in Okla.
May 19, 2022May 27, 2022

Once upon a time when drillers sunk an oil or gas well and it began to flow, the initial rush of natural gas coming from the hole would either be vented or flared. Venting is just releasing methane molecules into the atmosphere, a practice that gives environuts the creepy crawlies. Flaring is not much better in their book–the practice of burning methane coming from the hole (converting it to carbon dioxide). But hey, we don’t want to vent or flare for a different reason–because those molecules are worth money! Better to capture and sell them. Enter technologies that do just that. One such company that manufactures tech to capture and sell fugitive methane at drilling sites is Flogistix (think of the word flow mashed with the word logistics…Flogistix). The company has field offices in many locations, including an office in Washington, PA.
Read More “Flaring Tech Co. with Ops in M-U Expands Manuf. Facility in Okla.”
Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Research

O&G Jobs Recovering in 2022, Won’t Reach Pre-Pandemic Until 2027
May 19, 2022May 27, 2022

Rystad Energy, a Norwegian-based energy research and business intelligence company, issued its latest research yesterday that predicts employment in the U.S. oil and gas industry is set to rebound in the coming years and eventually surpass pre-COVID levels. Rystad says the industry will add roughly 108,000 new jobs this year. However, we won’t hit pre-pandemic levels of employment, says Rystad, until 2027–five years from now.
Read More “O&G Jobs Recovering in 2022, Won’t Reach Pre-Pandemic Until 2027”
Industrywide Issues | Research | Wastewater

Study Says Shale Wastewater a ‘Substantial Source of Lithium’
May 19, 2022May 27, 2022

Eureka Resources, which currently operates three frack wastewater treatment facilities in the Marcellus Shale (building a fourth facility in Dimock, PA), is doing really cool stuff. In October 2019 the company began extracting lithium from Marcellus wastewater at one of its plants in Bradford County, PA (see Marcellus Wastewater Plant in PA Extracts 1st Batch of Lithium). In 2020 the company announced it had received its fourth patent for its lithium extraction process. The company also said its plants can theoretically supply up to 25% of the country’s annual lithium demand–solely with lithium recovered from Marcellus wastewater (see Eureka Can Supply 25% of US Lithium Demand from Marc. Wastewater). Now there’s independently published research confirming what Eureka has been saying for years–lithium from brine (wastewater) is the answer to a lithium supply shortage here in the U.S.
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Industrywide Issues | Regulation

U.S. Chamber Makes Suggestions for Revised Climate/Energy Bill
May 19, 2022May 27, 2022

In a bit of swamp-related cheerleading, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce published a treatise with its 2 cents on what should be included in a revamped “bipartisan” Build Back Worse deal that is being hatched on Capitol Hill between U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (Democrat from West Virginia) and U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (Republican from Alaska). We can tolerate Manchin, but we can’t tolerate Murkowski, who is a traitor to conservative values and the Republican Party. The U.S. Chamber senses a deal is getting close and wants to influence its shape as much as possible, floating “seven core elements” that should be part of such a deal.
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Industrywide Issues | Regulation

“What the FERC!” – New Ad Campaign Targets Biden FERC, Dems
May 19, 2022May 27, 2022

Ha ha ha ha ha. A new ad campaign is running in D.C., Nevada, and New Hampshire targeting the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and Democrats in swing states. The tag line used is “What the FERC!” We love it! The ad has leftists fit to be tied because it draws attention to policies from Biden’s FERC and his administration that have contributed to high energy costs. If Trump were still in the White House and ads with a naughty-sounding tagline like this were running, national media would be all over it. Since it’s Biden, it’s crickets from every single national media outlet–a total blackout and refusal to cover the news (otherwise known as censorship).
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Best of the Rest

Other Stories of Interest: Thu, May 19, 2022
May 19, 2022May 27, 2022

NATIONAL: US Hybrid debuts near-zero-emission natural gas powertrain; Gas prices soaring because Biden trying to bankrupt American oil and gas; Record-high Texas, Midcontinent heat to elevate power demand, gas prices; The ESG community lacks an understanding of what crude oil is used for; INTERNATIONAL: LNG may not join oil as global commodity, but markets seem just fine with that; LNG demand is soaring as Europe races to replace Russian gas.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Thu, May 19, 2022”